NORTHBOROUGH – Matt Bruce didn't need a terminal illness to teach him to appreciate life.

The 26-year-old Northborough man began working at a funeral home at age 16, probing an interest that had been sparked years before at the wake of a beloved neighbor.

Watching the funeral director deftly ease the pain of grieving families, Bruce decided he too wanted to make dealing with death his life's work. He worked his way up the ranks, parking cars and arranging flowers before becoming an apprentice embalmer.

"It was a passion to want to be helping people at a time of need," said Bruce, who saw some tough things in the morgue but took pride in knowing his work helped people dealing with sorrow.

The more he dealt with death, he said, the more he appreciated life. Whether it was hunting with friends, going to watch his beloved Bruins or driving down the Cape alone for a daytime fishing trip, Bruce was always doing something he enjoyed.

And then, last summer, while working to become a certified embalmer, Bruce started having trouble speaking. A month later, he learned that, instead of spending the rest of his life preparing others for death, he would need to start preparing for his own.

"Being diagnosed with a terminal illness has brought that appreciation (of life) to a new level," Bruce told The Daily News last July, a month after he was unexpectedly diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, ALS is a debilitating illness for which there is no cure. The disease degenerates motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, causing progressing muscle atrophy and killing most people it afflicts within five years.

Only about 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS each year in the U.S., and the disease is much rarer for people Bruce's age. Over the past nine months, ALS has taken away most of Bruce's ability to speak, reduced his energy and weakened the muscles in his neck to the point where he can't eat most food.

What it's failed to do, family and friends say, is weaken the resolve encapsulated in a phrase he began to say just after his diagnosis: never give up.

"He's still doing what he would do if he didn't have that diagnosis," said his father, Jim Bruce, a sergeant with the Northborough police. "He's not letting it get him down."

In the past nine months, Bruce has been to more countries than most people will see in a lifetime. He's fulfilled lifelong dreams, reconnected with old friends and had countless prayers whispered from total strangers.

"He has packed so much living into the last nine months," mother Natalie Bruce said. "Every single person who's called him and said, ‘Hey you want to (do this?),' he's said, ‘Yeah.'"

Page 2 of 4 - His journey started in the summer, when relatives of his mother took him on a lengthy European jaunt to Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Amsterdam.

Asked which he liked best, Bruce grinned and immediately signaled Amsterdam. Asked why, he broke out a mischievous smile, held his eyes wide and shrugged mightily.

"That's what I'm talking about with the smile," his mother said, laughing. "He never stops."

Month after month, as everyday life became more and more difficult, Jim and Natalie Bruce said their son kept smiling, whether it was with friends at a Bruins game or at a fundraiser in his honor.

When he lost most of his ability to talk, he began texting, she said, which is the way he now talks to most of his friends.

As word of his battle spread, friends began to organize benefits, including a golf tournament in September that raised enough money to send the family to Ireland.

"That was a dream for him, and it was so special we were all able to share it with him," said Natalie, a longtime assistant to the police chief in Westborough. "It was really special."

Jim Bruce said the family simply wouldn't have been able to afford the trip had it not been for the generosity of friends and strangers alike.

"I just want people to understand how grateful we are to everybody who has not only given money, but has shown support in any way," he said.

Support has come in many different forms, Bruce said, including constant Facebook messages and letters from friends he hadn't spoken to in years.

Bruce's employer, Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester, stepped up large, the family said, helping with medical expenses and fundraising efforts.

"When we all found out (the diagnosis), we were all devastated," said funeral home owner Kevin Mercadante.

Mercadante said everyone at the home was impressed by Bruce, who kept working for as long as he could and kept his positive attitude.

"A lot of people might just say, ‘That's it,'" Mercadante said. "He didn't. He said, ‘Hey, listen, I'm going to live my life until I can't live it anymore."

When he was in the hospital for Halloween, members of the family church, St. Luke's of Westborough, carved dozens of pumpkins with messages for Matt and lit them up outside the church.

"His dad came and took pictures and video (to bring him)," said Gloria Josephs, who serves as the youth minister at the church.

Josephs has known Bruce all his life, and says he has a special quality that puts people at ease.

"He has special graces. That's the only way I can explain it," she said. "Always a happy kid. Everybody gets along with Matt."

Page 3 of 4 - Josephs said Bruce's faith only strengthened after his diagnosis. Worcester Bishop Robert McManus anointed and confirmed him at a private ceremony at his home, Josephs said, and he began coming to Mass with her every morning.

"After services, people hug Matt and surround him with prayers and love," she said. "It's really beautiful."

The church on Veterans Day had 60 volunteers making blankets to be sold to benefit the Bruce family.

"We sold them all. We couldn't churn them out fast enough," said Josephs.

Bruce wasn't the only sick person at the event. Also there was Esther Allen, Bruce's nursery school teacher, who is in her 80s and also battling a serious illness.

Both need a feeding tube to eat, and, Jim Bruce said, swapped "war stories" about what they have been through.

"Seeing the two of them together – one frail near the end of her life, one young near the end of his life," Josephs said, trialing off. "Building that sense of community is really all we can do."

Josephs said Bruce has told her he isn't afraid to die. Instead, she said, he's focused on what he can control.

"He lives every day to the fullest. None of us do. We take everything for granted," she said, "When you look at things through Matt's eyes, every minute is precious."

Bruce's younger brother, AJ, agreed.

"I could ask him to do anything and he'd do it," he said. "He'd jump on a plane to New Zealand tomorrow. He's living in the moment."

With his disease making life more difficult physically, Bruce has moved back into his parents' house on Mayflower Road, the same house his dad grew up in.

Though he can no longer eat what he catches, that hasn't stopped Bruce from fishing. Bruce can still walk and drive, and the winter chill hasn't kept him off the ice of Chauncy Lake.

A few weeks ago, nearly 100 people came to ice fish with Bruce on the lake in a derby organized to benefit his family.

Sitting inside an ice shanty atop the frozen lake, a Bruins hat atop his head, a fishing rod in his hand, Bruce smiled broadly as friends joked around while waiting for a nibble.

"He's really an inspiration to a lot of people in the community," said event organizer and family friend Ross Amato. Amato said area restaurants and businesses familiar with Bruce's story provided free food and supplies.

The family needs help paying for the escalating costs associated with Bruce's treatment and home care, and several fundraisers are on the horizon.

A 5K run, "Miles for Matt," has been scheduled for April 5 at Proctor School, and Jim Bruce, an Iron Man, will anchor "Team Matt" for his son at the Falmouth Road Race.

Page 4 of 4 - To donate toward Bruce's fundraising or to join the team, go to falmouth.ccals.org and search "Team Matt." Proceeds from "Team Matt" will go to Compassionate Care ALS, an organization the family said has assisted them greatly.

To donate directly to help the Bruce family with costs of home care, send a check c/o Matt Bruce to St. Mary's Credit Union, 100 West Main St., Northborough.

Bruce thanks everyone who has supported him, especially his parents and his girlfriend Jillian Hubley, whom he called his "angel."

"I can't thank them enough from the bottom of my heart," he said. "And for anyone who is facing a terminal illness, just have faith."

As she watched her son typing words he used to say with ease - a frequent source of frustration for him - Natalie Bruce admires her son's strength, a force she said has continually lifted the spirits of everyone around him.

"There are days when you wake up and you think, ‘Oh boy, how are we going to get through this day?" she said. "And he just wakes up every day with a smile on his face – every single day – and gives us one of these," she said, flashing her son a big thumbs-up.

Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or bpetrishen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishen_MWDN.